After a bidding war of 14, Kobalt Capital buys SONGS catalogue for $160m

SONGS Music Publishing has sold its catalogue to Kobalt Capital Ltd (KCL) for a reported $160 million.

KCL operates separately to the Kobalt Music Business, but the SONGS repertoire will now be administered and serviced by Kobalt Music Publishing following a three month aucition that saw 14 different bidders.

The acquisition comes in the wake of KCLlast month raising $600 million to buy up music copyrights so it can collect royalties itself.

The catalogue hasnamesincludingPaul McCartney, Kelly Clarkson, Dave Grohl, MØ, Diplo, DJ Mustard, Jose Gonzalez,Q-Tip, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Duran Duran, Dr. Luke and The Chainsmokers.

Its songs includeLorde’s ‘Royals’; The Weeknd’s ‘Can’t Feel My Face,’ ‘The Hills and ‘Starboy’; Major Lazer’s ‘Lean On’; Desiigner’s ‘Panda’; and Mark Ronson’s ‘Uptown Funk.’

The acquisition now allows SONGS President Ron Perry to head over to take over the leadership of Columbia Records under Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer who held that role until April.

SONGS signings had 3.5% of all US radio airplay for ten of the last twelve quarters.

That figure was up to 5.41% in the last quarter of 2016 – the year in which it was also lauded as Independent Publisher of the year by ASCAP.

Last year it made a profit of $8 million and expected to uptick that to $12 million in 2017.

SONGS began in 2004 at a time when the global music business was going through a revolutionary change.

Founders Matt Pincus, Carianne Marshall and Perry built a strong young team around them, focussed on transparency and remuneration for writers (they claim to collect 40% more money for their writers), and built a catalogue that was past and future evergreens.

Pincus, who became CEO, said, “SONGS is a truly independent company – 100% owned and operated by us since its inception.

“After many years of hard work and personal investment in the company, we decided that it was time for us to look for new horizons.”

He went on to explain why they sold the catalogue to Kobalt, over the 13 others who bid for it over a three month auction period.

“I met Willard (Ahdritz, Kobalt founder) when I first started SONGS in 2004.

“He was one of the first people to believe in our vision of a music publishing company providing revolutionary creative service to contemporary songwriters.

“That is why I feel so fortunate to now hand SONGS to Willard, Laurent (President and Chief Revenue Officer Laurent Hubert) and the entire Kobalt team, who together have demonstrated a time-tested commitment to songwriters through their dedication to transparency, honesty and independence.

“It’s because of these characteristics and our longstanding relationship that we are confident there is no better partner than Kobalt with which to continue our legacy.”